YMMV / Last Christmas

• Alternative Character Interpretation:
  • Was Kate's mother really enjoying the attention of Kate's illness as much as Kate thinks she was, or is Kate simply projecting her own anger and trauma onto her overall well-meaning mother? Or is it a little bit of both? The film itself seems to favour the interpretation that it's both, as Kate's sister Marta does say that she's right about their mother being a piece of work, but they're all a mess in the family. Although Kate's mother is deeply flawed, there are reasons (namely PTSD from the wars) as to why she became like that, and her attention-seeking doesn't make her a bad person.
  • Is Tom a ghost, or a figment of Kate's imagination as she tries to come to terms with what's happened to her? If we go with the latter interpretation, it'd deepen Kate's already-evident symptoms of trauma, as her entire relationship with Tom would've been a series of hallucinations/dissociative episodes. At the same time, much of the movie would also read as Kate subconsciously pulling herself from her depressive slump to genuinely work on improving herself (for instance: the scene in the ice-skating rink, where she learns how to skate in time for a forthcoming ice-skating play audition). On the other hand, Tom being some sort of real ghost would make a bit more sense, given Tom's repeated reappearances before the movie ends. It'd also solidify the romance aspect of the story. It's also possible that it's somewhere in-between. Kate, now owning Tom's literal heart, is seeing a manifestation of how Tom would've fallen in love with her if he'd gotten just a little more time. The processing of emotions doesn't actually happen inside the human heart, but we'll let it slide for the sake of touching, romantic symbolism.
  • If Tom is in fact a ghost, does he hang around and help Kate simply because she needs it and he knows it's the right thing to do, or is he trying to help her want to live again so he can pass on knowing his death wasn't in vain? Of course, it could very easily be both. For that matter, did he choose to stick around as a ghost, or was he unable to pass on due to Unfinished Business until the events of the movie?
  • Did Kate genuinely not have any idea Tom was dead until the scene at the apartment forced her to realize the Awful Truth, or did she know, deep, deep down that something was off? The Once More, with Clarity scene where she sees that she was alone during her "dates" with him, along with the fact that their bench had a memorial plaque with his name on it, implies that she did realize, but was in such deep denial that she convinced herself he was alive — especially if you take the "he's a hallucination" route.
• Awesome Music: There's a lot of fan demand for the full, high-quality audio of Emilia Clarke's "Last Christmas" Cover Version.
  • The version of George Michael's "Praying for Time" used in the film.
• Captain Obvious Reveal: The title and the trailers dropped so many clues that people on social media were able to accurately predict that Tom was dead the whole time and was the donor for Kate's heart transplant months before the movie came out.
• Critical Dissonance: Critics have given the film mixed reviews, but audiences have been more forgiving.
• Diagnosed by the Audience: She's certainly battling trauma either way, but if we interpret her whole romantic relationship with Tom as the product of her brain and not a ghost or something like that, that'd mean Kate was having dissociative episodes/hallucinations the entire time.
• Ensemble Dark Horse: Santa! Michelle Yeoh absolutely nails every line, and her relationship with Kate is every bit as sweet as it is funny.
• Epileptic Trees: A lot of people instantly began crafting wild theories, such as Tom being a ghost or a figment of Kate's imagination. Henry Golding, who plays Tom, is amused but baffled by these theories; he's gone on record to say it's just a Christmas movie that shouldn't be overthought. Turns out Henry Golding was only saying this to keep the twist a secret. There was also a theory that Tom is Santa's son, which would've been the second time Michelle Yeoh played his mother, but that doesn't come to pass in the film.
• Harsher in Hindsight
  • Kate sarcastically claims she intends to become famous and then tragically die at the age of twenty-seven. As her depression is further delved into, you realize she might actually mean it.
  • Many who are aware of the movie's existence don't poke fun at it because Emilia Clarke had near-fatal brain aneurysms while working on Game of Thrones, making her character Kate's past genuinely heart-wrenching.
• Hilarious in Hindsight: Fabien Frankel plays one of Emilia Clarke's love interests in this film. Later on, in House of the Dragon, he would serve as the Knight in Shining Armor who serves and sleeps with Daenerys Targaryen's ancestress, the Princess Rhaenyra.
• I Knew It!: People on Twitter accurately predicted the big plot twist of the film back when the first trailer was released.
• Narm Charm:
  • The entire movie is sappy, with a predictable twist that's obviously made to tug at heartstrings... and it succeeds in tugging at those heartstrings.
  • Santa and Boy's first meeting is deliberately over-the-top and silly, but it still manages to be genuinely sweet.
• Older Than They Think: A romantic comedy-drama centered on a woman who received a heart transplant and the surprise connection regarding the heart's donor, was the plot in Return to Me.
• Retroactive Recognition: Fabien Frankel features here in a supporting role. He would later land a Star-Making Role in the prequel to Emilia Clarke's own star-making show, House of the Dragon.
• Tear Jerker:
  • Kate talking about her heart transplant, which was obviously incredibly traumatic for her, and how everyone expects her to just go back to normal, but she doesn't know if she ever can.
    Kate: Everyone says I'm lucky to be alive. I don't feel lucky. I just feel half-dead.
  • When Kate finally realizes Tom is dead, and her heart donor. She just sits on their bench crying to herself in the snow... and then we see that the bench is actually a memorial for him.
    Look up.
• Took the Bad Film Seriously: While few have called the movie outright bad, no one's denying it's seriously corny. But the sincere, emotional and often very funny performances of everyone in the cast is what elevates it from what probably should've been "pure melodramatic Narm" to "Narm Charm at its worst, a pretty good movie at its best." For example, is the twist predictable and rather over-the-top? Yes. But do Emilia Clarke and Henry Golding commit, and thus succeed in utterly breaking your heart with The Reveal? Yes.

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